Efforts were continuing on Sunday to restore the water supply to the greater Thessaloniki urban area, days after the tap dried up in the metropolis, the second largest in Greece - a particularly embarrassing incident that coincided with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' appearance in the city last week to unveil his government's development plan for the wider central Macedonia province.
Keeping utilities firmly in the public domain had been a rallying call by Tsipras' leftist SYRIZA party before it won the January 2015 election, with a particular emphasis on waterworks.
On Sunday, officials from the state-run and owned water and sewerage utility (EYATh) in the greater Thessaloniki area referred to an increase in water reservoirs from a local spring, while admitting to still continuing problems with supply in a couple of working class western districts.
Moreover, reports on Sunday were still unclear as to which neighborhoods in the greater Thessaloniki area had an uninterrupted water supply. On its part, the water company merely referred to problems emanating from "excessive consumption", which it blamed for low water pressure, as well as "local leaks" in the network from lengthy interruptions.
The utility also blamed the murky appearance of the first tap water to come out of faucets on the interruptions.
